That’s just like the battery in Rick’s house.
Massan was staring at Rick hard.
Alice was too. “Is there an Infidel Friend named Galen?”
Ellen caught her breath.
El Cid looked at her. “Not that I know of.” She looked about to her comrades. They all shrugged their shoulders. “Why do you ask?”
“I think he built a machine very much like the one you’re talking about now.”
El Cid gave her own shrug. “We make no secret of the way we fight devils. I don’t know every Infidel Friend in Hell, however, so you never know. But Infidel Friend are disliked in your town, are they not?”
“You’d know,” Alice said. “You killed half of my people.”
El Cid turned away from Q and advanced on Alice. The poor blonde girl did her best to hold her ground.
“I lived for fifty-two years on earth,” El Cid said, “and I’ve spent over forty more in the labyrinth. In all that time, I have not regretted any of the lives I have taken.”
“Then you’re a monster,” Alice said.
“No I’m not, but the people I killed were.”
Alice raised her chin. “Would you regret it if you killed me?”
Ellen held her breath.
“Ladies,” Q broke in, “you’ll have to finish measuring your cocks later, we’ve got company.”
El Cid, who could not possibly be a woman at the age of fifty-two, seemed reluctant to take her eyes off of Alice. Finally she did so, turning her head quickly, her pony tail swinging back around her head.
Ellen looked too.
Five corpses were wandering together through the Cypress knees. One of them met her gaze. Ellen was suddenly reminded of the corpse eater.
“Q, Aiden, lead them off,” El Cid ordered. “Kill them quietly. No need to make this place any busier than it has to be. We’ll have to set up a temporary lure near here anyway to cover the noise we’ll make building the crusher. Keep your eyes out for a good place to set one up. Everyone else, let’s clear out. Back to camp people.”
Alice turned away and began to walk back up the tunnel, but El Cid reached out and grabbed her wrist. With what appeared to be no effort, the little Infidel Friend jerked Alice back around to face her.
“Yes,” El Cid said, staring into Alice’s eyes.
“Yes what?”
“Yes. I’d regret it.”
Katie felt tears of pride in her eyes for Martin.
The Citizens were meeting, and none of the villagers dared go anywhere near the church. Even so, they were too curious to remain inside. The people of Harpsborough were all out of their huts, hovels, and tents, grouped together in a huge semicircle that rounded the Fore. Only Martin was brave enough to stay near the meeting. He was alone on the church steps, standing like a statue, looking up to the closed double doors.
“They’ve been in there for so long . . .” Erica whispered.
Katie nodded, keeping her gaze on her man. “It’s a very serious question. A lot of lives are on the line.”
Martin’s life. If it’s war, he’ll be the one running it. If it’s peace, he’ll be the one making the deal.
Erica gave a short laugh. “Our lives. Not theirs.”
Martin’s life.
She should have never let him kiss her, or take her, or hold her hand. It was best not to be close to men like that. She’d never seen herself as the kind of girl who’d date the Lead Hunter. That was for pretty skinny little things like Alice. But now Alice was gone, maybe never to return. Aaron was dead.
Katie felt lightheaded. She gnawed at her lip. Her bottom lip had a scab on it. She pressed into it with her teeth, feeling the pain.
“Stop that!” Erica ordered her. “You’ll chew through it again.”
I don’t know if I can handle this. I need to break it off with him.
That had to be the right answer. She should just find someone who wasn’t going to be sent out to die every time the Fore wanted its dirty work done. Martin would find another girl. Another girl like Gemma. Women were all over him these days, now that he was the Lead Hunter.
But Erica, he had saved Erica when he took the hunters out to feed the people. And he had pleaded so hard to Michael in order to avoid this war. Because he was so gentle. Martin may have been the gentlest man she’d ever met.
Katie had to move back and forth to try and keep her legs from shaking.
The people around her caught their breaths, and Katie could hear the distant squeal of the church doors opening. The Citizen’s began pouring out, but they stopped when they saw Martin there on Father Klein’s steps. They spread out around him. Michael Baker pushed his way through and then walked down towards Martin.
Oh please. Don’t send him out there to die.
Moving wasn’t helping her now, her knees were shaking so badly she couldn’t walk. She felt an arm circle around her shoulders. It was Erica’s. Katie chewed her lip. She tasted blood, but didn’t care. She clasped her hands together and held them up over her heart.
Michael was next to Martin now, looking at him, saying nothing.
Please. Please. Please.
“Oh, no,” Erica said.
For a moment, the two just stood there.
From this distance, Katie was barely able to make out when Michael began speaking. Then Michael stopped.
Martin’s head hung in defeat. Like a corpse, her lover turned back towards the villagers.
War.
Dakota stood nervously at the left side of the exit, looking down the mining tunnel where Galen, Tamara, and the rest of the Carrion soldiers had gone. Arturus guessed that being alone and away from the rest of his people was bothering Dakota. For a man who braved the Carrion on a daily basis, he wasn’t handling the stress well.
“I’m telling you,” he said to Aaron, “we’ve been through these mines before. There’s only silver. No rustrock.”
Aaron, who was standing to Dakota’s right, shrugged his shoulders. He gave up watching and sat down with Arturus, Johnny, Kelly, and Avery.
“If Galen says there’s rustrock down there,” Johnny broke in, “then there’s rustrock down there.”
Dakota turned back and sneered at him. “Keep your nose-busted-ugly-ass out of my conversation, you dirty little chink.”
Kelly sucked air in through her teeth.
Arturus wasn’t sure why, but what Dakota said had crossed some sort of line.
Johnny’s eyes narrowed, and his hand came up reflexively to his still healing nose. “Well, boy, you’ve got a pretty mouth.” The hunter mimed playing a banjo on his shotgun, complete with a little song.
Arturus didn’t get the joke, but Avery laughed. Aaron was smiling too, but he put a hand over his mouth, hiding his amusement.
Dakota was fuming. “You won’t be laughing when you wake up with your throat cut. Better sleep next to one of your little friends, yellow fucker.”
Johnny stood up and advanced on Dakota. “You wanna fuck with me? I guarantee you you’ll regret it. You’d better not sleep alone, either. I’ll put whip cream in your hand and tickle your fucking face.”
Aaron lost his composure, giving out a surprised laugh.
Dakota got within inches of Johnny and stared down at the small hunter.
“Dakota,” Kelly said, her voice high and sharp.
The Carrion man stopped.
Kelly stood up, her black robes swishing around her. “Johnny Huang’s a good soldier and a brave man. You know you’re going with us to the City of Blood and Stone. His gun’s going to protect you, and he won’t shoot you in the back. Stand down.”
Dakota snorted his mucus and then spat some of it on the wall beside him. Arturus watched the snot creep down the natural, uneven rock. Then the Carrion man turned on his heel and walked back to the exit, continuing his vigil.
Avery stood up gingerly. Arturus had worried that the walk would open some of the stitching they’d had to do on his privates. So far he seemed to be holding up prett
y well. The hunter stretched his legs. Aaron stood up as well, pulled Avery aside, and started whispering to him.
Arturus tried to listen in, but Kelly sat down next to him. He felt suddenly uncomfortable, noticing the sharp natural rocks digging into his back.
“So Calista gave you a lock of hair, huh?” Kelly’s voice was quiet enough to where Arturus doubted the others could hear her.
“Yeah.”
“And you kept it?”
Arturus looked at her. She seemed nonchalant, as if she didn’t really care what he’d done with Calista’s gift.
“Yeah. I figured I should keep it. I mean, we are coming back. She wouldn’t be too happy to find out that I didn’t have it.”
Kelly nodded. “You could throw it away. Pretend that you lost it.”
Arturus frowned. “Why would I do that?”
“You wouldn’t have so much to carry.” Kelly’s face was suddenly taut.
“Are your ribs okay?” Arturus asked her.
“They’re fine,” she said harshly.
She stood up and stalked across the room, moving to stand near Aaron and Avery.
“I know you’re talking about me,” Dakota said.
“You’d better start whispering too, soldier,” Kelly shot back. “We’re deep in, but dyitzu hordes can still come . . .”
Arturus heard footsteps. Kelly must have noticed them as well, because she had stopped talking. The sounds were coming from the exit to the mine.
Torchlight illuminated the dark, jagged stones down that passage. It grew closer.
Tamara entered. “The rest are right behind me. He’s right. Under that silver vein is a ton of rustrock. More than we could ever need.”
Johnny gave Dakota a smile and a wink. “Told ya.”
Dakota spat again.
Galen and the rest of the soldiers came up, bearing a second lit torch.
Tamara looked at her Carrion men. “Report this place to Calimay. She’ll have you lead miners back here. Dakota, you’re with me. We’re accompanying them to the City of Blood and Stone. We have to make sure Galen completes his special task.”
Special task? What’s she talking about? Maybe she just means the scouting?
But Galen’s narrowed eyes told Arturus a different story.
What aren’t they telling me?
Ellen and Alice were preparing to bathe while Aiden checked the exit.
“Bear with me a second,” the gorgeous infidel said. “I’m going to check down these hallways. Don’t drop your guard, yet. I’ll be coming back through, so keep your safeties on.”
Ellen nodded.
The infidels didn’t seem to care about who bathed with whom, so long as it was accomplished in an orderly manner. El Cid had ordered them into pairs for safety, so Ellen had become Alice’s bathing partner.
Alice seemed distracted. Actually, she looked downright distraught.
“Are you okay?” Ellen asked.
“Huh?” Alice turned towards her. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Okay.”
“It’s just, I thought I knew Molly, you know?”
Alice wasn’t looking at the exit to the room at all. Ellen couldn’t blame her. Except for the corpses, they hadn’t seen any devilsign at all.
“I know you guys used to be best friends,” Ellen said. “And when you were talking with her on the way back to camp, she seemed upset.”
“She lied, Ellen.” Alice bent down and began to untie her sneakers. She stopped and stared into the river, both sets of her laces untied. “She told us we were coming here to save someone, not to complete some Infidel Friend mission.”
“She did lie about that,” Ellen said. “Rick was pretty angry, too. But it’s not like she lied to hurt us.”
Alice rolled her eyes. “But she always does stuff like this. One time she told me that Aaron was stealing from the Fore. Then she gave me dyitzu meat someone had traded her to convince me it was true. It wasn’t. Who the hell does that?”
“I don’t know.” Ellen said.
“I mean, really?” Alice shook her head, unknotting the blue cord that kept her hair tied back. “And you know she still says she loves Cris? After one day? Really? Talk to a guy for one hour and you’re in love? Molly falls in love twice a minute. You’ve seen how she looks at Aiden.”
Yeah. You’d have to be blind not to look at that guy.
“And then she accuses me of not treating Aaron right.” Alice held her hands up in exasperation. “She sleeps around on him until he has to break up with her. Then she lies to me about him when he and I are together, does everything she can to keep us apart, and then tells me I treated him badly.”
Ellen didn’t know what to say.
“Aiden,” Aiden reported.
Funny. The Infidel Friend announce themselves the same way Rick taught me to.
Aiden entered the room. “All clear, ladies. Feel free to bathe. Be thorough, but don’t waste time.”
He turned his back to them and faced towards the exit.
“Don’t turn around,” Alice warned him.
With his back still to them, he nodded.
To hear El Cid tell it, they needed to get all of the corpsedust off their clothes and weapons to make sure they didn’t rot. Looking at her dirty and torn jeans, Ellen couldn’t help but feel that the effort was coming a little late. Ellen made sure to look away from Alice, stripped, and dropped into the river. Its current was stronger than she’d expected. The chill felt good on her body.
Ellen saw Alice out of the corner of her eye as the girl left the river. She had a svelte figure, like a model.
No wonder Turi was so smitten with her.
Ellen put her clothes into the river, trying to get out some of the dirt. It helped a little.
That’s probably as good as it’s going to get.
She got out, splashing water all over the stones as she did so. Alice was gone already. Her clothes couldn’t have had time to dry.
Maybe Aiden made her uncomfortable. Or maybe she’s still upset from Molly saying whatever it was she said about Aaron.
Ellen began to wring out her wet clothes.
“If you run your hands over your body, you’ll dry faster,” Aiden suggested.
Ellen felt a flush coming to her cheeks. “You just keep watching for corpses, Mister.”
He shrugged. Ellen watched him suspiciously, but he gave no sign of wanting to peek. She tried out his suggestion. It worked surprisingly well.
She heard what sounded like a hiccup coming from the corridor that led back to camp. At first she feared it was an enemy, but then she saw Alice’s wet footsteps leading out into the wilds.
She heard the noise again.
Ellen put on her bra, panties and her shirt, even though her shirt was still wet, before trying to struggle into her jeans. The struggle wasn’t an easy one while her pants were still damp, and it was particularly hard to get her wounded ankle through, but she managed. She limped out into the corridor to see Alice.
Alice was crying. She’d managed to get her shirt and blue skirt on, at least. Her hair was a disheveled mess. Ellen could see where she’d cut off a strand to give to Aaron. She was fiddling with the shorter hair there.
Ellen caught her up in a hug. “You miss Aaron, I know.”
“I treated him so badly.”
“He loved you. He knew you loved him.”
Alice’s tears added to the dampness of her shirt. “I threw things in his face. I demanded that he make me a Citizen when I knew he couldn’t. Then I said he didn’t love me because of it. I knew he loved me. I just . . . I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“He forgave you. I know he did. I was there when you and Chelsea saw them all off.”
“But why should he have?” Alice was asking. “There is no reason for me to act like that. I just wanted to hurt him. I was frustrated at something else, and I hurt him for it. That’s what a child would do. And look at me. I’m crying like a baby.”
Ellen h
eld her tighter. “We’re women, Alice. It’s okay. Sometimes we just need to cry. Sometimes we just need to be irrational.”
What she said calmed Alice considerably, but in a flash of terrible insight, Ellen knew how that statement would sound to a woman like El Cid. Hearing her own words from that point of view made her feel sick inside.
Acting like a child.
If El Cid could have read her thoughts then, the Infidel Friend would have been overcome with disgust.
Someone had lied to her, Ellen realized. Society had gone and tricked her, deep within her soul where such deceptions could do the most damage. Somehow they had planted a seed inside her that was short circuiting her ability to be a human being. Somehow they had forced a crutch into her hands that she hadn’t wanted or needed.
They taught me it was okay to act like a child because I was a woman. As if only men could behave like adults.
Ellen’s jaw clenched. She felt her breath coming faster.
Alice drew back. It was as if she had somehow sensed Ellen’s change in mood. “Are you okay?”
Ellen nodded. “Yeah. I just thought of how much I hate the things that hurt us.”
The distant sound of gunshots echoed through the wilds of Hell. Arturus watched his father whisper with Tamara and Aaron. Tamara motioned towards Kelly and Dakota. The pair followed her out of the room.
Tamara only trusts Carrion people. She should have taken Johnny.
Aaron walked over to him. He knelt down, holding his shotgun at the ready. “We think it’s probably one of Calimay’s people,” he whispered. “Probably ran into trouble on the way back.”
It made sense. The Carrion was crawling with packs of dyitzu, and without Galen’s uncanny senses to guide them, they could well have run into trouble.
There were a few more gunshots, closer this time.
Or they could have just gotten unlucky.
Long, high pitched howls echoed through the chamber.
“Hounds,” Johnny said.
There was more shooting, and it seemed even closer.
“Jesus,” Aaron said a little louder than Arturus was comfortable with, “that’s from our people.”
Kelly and Dakota burst back into the room. Dakota’s eyes were wide with fear.
Knight of Gehenna (Hellsong Book 2) Page 31